From exile to solo exhibition

A Hazara man who grew up in exile in Pakistan and gained permanent residency in Australia through a distinguished talent visa is about to open a solo exhibition at the NSW Art Gallery.

Transcript

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Art has been the passport to permanent residency in Australia for an Hazara man who grew up in exile in Pakistan. Khadim Ali was granted a distinguished talent visa for his exceptional ability. Four years on, he's risen to the top of the art world. Anne Maria Nicholson reports.

ANNE MARIA NICHOLSON, REPORTER: The journey for Khadim Ali from a home in exile to one of Australia's top galleries has been a long one.

KHADIM ALI, ARTIST: It is very difficult to fight with that identity crisis in your own self. You're not an Australian, you're not a Pakistani, you're not an Afghani, you're a Hazara.

ANNE MARIA NICHOLSON: The international art world has embraced the artist and he's now preparing for a prestigious solo show in the Art Gallery of NSW.

SUHANYA RAFFEL, ART GALLERY OF NSW: I think he is really a very wonderful, talented young artist who will make a major career for himself internationally.

ANNE MARIA NICHOLSON: Khadim Ali's artwork is rooted in Afghan mythology, stretching back 1,000 years. His interpretation is completely modern, from brilliant paintings to rugs he had made in Kabul in conjunction with traditional carpet weavers.

KHADIM ALI: I think I'm going back, I'm bridging myself to my own dark history, to the histories of Hazaras where I'm trying to hear all those screams and shouts where they - they were unheard on those dark nights.

SUHANYA RAFFEL: He addresses those issues of displacement, of migration, of meaning and identity, of where you decide to pull that to form who you are.

ANNE MARIA NICHOLSON: Ali grew up in the Hazara community in exile in Quetta in Pakistan near the Afghan border. Two years ago his parents were injured in a suicide bombing that killed and maimed dozens and destroyed their house.

KHADIM ALI: A car suicide bomber came with 80 kg of explosive and blew himself up right on an intersection where my parents' house were there, and - which killed around 14 people and 20 houses were totally collapsed in that and more than 100 were injured in that. So my parents were also injured in that.

ANNE MARIA NICHOLSON: Khadim brought them here and helps them adapt to Australian life.

KHADIM ALI: When people ask me that is your - "Are your parents living with you?," I always tell them that I live with my parents. They are still respectful for me.

ANNE MARIA NICHOLSON: His mother Amina was just 14 when she married his father, Ranzan Ali. Khadim is the second of five children and the only artist.

KHADIM ALI: My mother was really, really angry at me when I was little kid and putting charcoals from the bakeries in my pocket and drawing on the wall and drawing on the floor. She was really angry at me while she was washing my clothes. But I think now she's proud of herself that she didn't stop me doing that.

ANNE MARIA NICHOLSON: His show will be called The Haunted Lotus, the imagery bringing a new take on the ancient Hazara culture.

Anne Maria Nicholson, Lateline.

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